Alias Dark Betty
by XxMusicxKelseyxX
Summary: When Betty’s best friend is wronged in high school, she takes up the mantle of vigilante. Unfortunately, her heroism has gotten in the way of the NYPD and she must investigate whu the police put a gag order on the media while they attempt at investigating her or “The Black Hood”. Trying to make Dark Betty and The Black Hood into better concepts.
1. A Hero’s Journey

It all started many years earlier, back in high school, with her best friend trying to get revenge for sexual harassment at the hands of a football player. Veronica thought Betty couldn't handle "all dark, no stars" with her blonde ponytail and pink cardigan, but she was wrong. It sparked a darkness of its own.

Elizabeth Cooper wore all black, a black face mask, and a black cape with a hood that she secured over her head with bobby pins. You couldn't even tell she was blonde. Veronica raised her eyebrows as the two of them left. Veronica stayed nearby in an incognito black town car. It was the least conspicuous car they owned and was far less obvious compared to the cars the Coopers had. The Coopers were ruthless investigative journalists so their vehicles were marked in the collective consciousness as bad omens and yet everyone still paid for their daily edition of the paper. Betty Cooper had suspected that her mother must have been blackmailing them. There was no way Alice Cooper didn't have dirt on literally everyone.

She ducked behind a storage box on the side of the house and watched as Chuck Clayton vigorously scratched some plays into his notebook. He was captain, previously co-captain, of the Riverdale Bulldogs football team and would have to come up with strategies. She was preparing a strategy of her own.

Her black stiletto boots weren't very functional for walking but they looked good and they worked great as a weapon. There would be no fumbling and dropping, just a swift sharp kick.

She pushes him out of his seat and into the wall.

"I heard you've been a bad boy, Chuck. Been messing with people's hearts and reputations. Would be a shame if someone were to break something of yours."

She maintained a vicious atmosphere, sounding confident and perhaps even dangerous, but she was shaking like a leaf on the inside. Her heel dug into his foot and she heard a squeal as he seemed to fall apart.

"Really, now, Charles? You're that easy? Delete the pictures and burn the book. You have been warned." She grabbed her cape and flung it around as she took off in the darkness, with Veronica anxiously waiting in the get away car. They were already half way to Chateau Lodge before Betty finally gave any details to her ever impatient and curious best friend.

"I think that'll be the end of that. He's either not nearly as tough as he looks or..." she turned a beet red.

"Yeah Betty, orrrrr?"

"I think he might have came. I didn't even do anything." Veronica giggled and that was supposed to be the end of that.

And it was, for Chuck. In a fit of embarrassment, he did what was asked of him, afraid of what would happen if the truth of that night came to light. His reputation would be soiled.

But what BV dubbed "Dark Betty" did not go away. In fact, with Veronica as her benefactor, Betty took on the role of vigilante hero as a part of her routine. School, cheerleading practice, write for the school newspaper, do homework, fight crime, go to bed, rince and repeat. The styling of her costume remained the same but the material was more sturdy and a breathable material was used as a hair cover in case the hood ever came off. There weren't a lot of blondes like Betty in the town of Riverdale- a town with such a small population and yet such a high crime rate.

There was actually a game to it, at one point, as Veronica morally opposed her father's business dealings and would often donate more money to the Dark Betty cause to take down some of his unscrupulous under the table affairs. Daddy would try to hide something sinister from her and she would find out anyways. He had no idea that the person ruining his plans was actually his daughter, with the help of her best friend.

Upon graduating high school, the duo sat down and talked about the longevity of project Dark Betty. Betty wanted to pursue criminal justice but her even controlling mother pushed her into investigative journalism in hopes that one day she would inherit and extend the current Cooper newspaper enterprise- Big hopes for a form of media that is supposedly on the way out.

Veronica wanted to go into fashion design so the two of them made a pact to get their degrees in the same city. That city turned out to be New York, the fashion capital of North America. Veronica got one of their old homes from her childhood living in the city transferred to her name. As her dad had a secret study, she had a room hidden behind Betty's library for their project. There were outfit sketches and different weapons ideas and even a ratty black wig that was originally going to cover Betty's tresses but looked so awful that they switched to the hair cover. This was also a safe place to plan for things that needed more thought than just sweeping the streets at night for crime.

Unfortunately as the two worked through their degrees, Betty's character started to make the news. Some of it was positive but mostly negative. In Riverdale this had not been a problem as Betty's second best friend, Kevin Keller was the son of the sheriff which gave her a bit of leeway. It also helped that her work never got out at the time so Sheriff Keller actually got all the credit for her hard work.

Riverdale actually had a public hero before though, and he happened to be Betty's neighbor growing up. When "The Red Circle" got caught playing hero, the town used it as a chance to involve youth in police work with the hope that they would see it as a potential career in the future. For him, it was, and now he was on the "right" side of the law with due process and all that. He now believed that the law kept people safe and preventing innocent people from going to jail.

Betty believed that just meant more criminals went unprosecuted for their crimes. She never went after people without proving to herself that they were guilty, but the courts would be a completely different matter. She knew this first hand for when Forythe Jones II went to jail for the murder of her sister's boyfriend. After it was all settled, the family sat down and Betty's face exploded with abstract horror as it was made clear that Jason and Polly's babies would be the product of incest. She told her newly discovered cousin Cheryl the news the following day. "Ew, my life is literally a gothic horror fiction."

Polly ended up living with Cheryl and the Blossoms, a choice her own family highly disapproved of but couldn't prevent.

And that brings us to now, with Betty Cooper and Veronica lodge freezing in place as they notice a red head sitting on the fancy chaise downstairs in the apartment complex.

"Sweet cousin I need your help, it's about Jason."


	2. Back From the Dead

"What about Jason?" Veronica interjected. Her features were contorted in her state of confusion. Betty turned to face her.

"V, Jones admitted to murdering Jason but a body was never actually recovered. The case has been closed for about half a decade now but Cher has always been a bit apprehensive. Not to say she didn't wish the guy who admitted it the absolute worse but she thinks there might be more to it than that."

"Please Betty, I know I was a total stone cold bitch to you most of high school, but this is Jason we're talking about!" Cheryl dramatically begged, grasping Betty's hands between her own.

"Of course Cheryl, come on up."

The elevator ride to the penthouse was quiet and tense. Veronica and Cheryl stood as far apart as they could for such a small space, with Betty just awkwardly standing in the middle, shuffling her weight from side to side. The moment the doors opened, you could hear the clicking of Ronnie's heels as she took off towards the kitchen.

Betty sighed and gestured for Cheryl to follow her to the left, where their sitting area was. There was a living room at the back end of the suite but the sitting room was better for times when distractions like TV were unappreciated. Betty was about to get up and offer her guest some tea when Veronica returned with 3 wine glasses and a bottle of blackberry marlot. The blonde arched her brow.

"Everyone should socialize with wine. It takes the nerves off." She made sure to only give her friend a little bit, knowing Betty wasn't much of a drinker.

"I appreciate the sentimate though I'm usually more of a Grande Cherrise woman myself. It's got more class." The two were like fire and ice throughout high school and apparently they hadn't outgrown it with age.

"Oh I save the good stuff for company I actually care to impress."

Years of social training came to Betty in seconds as she smiled politely instead of rolling her eyes as she so very much wanted to do.

"So Cher, what's changed? Why now?" If they didn't get on topic, it was going to be a long night.

"Well you know how I've been fighting Penelope on keeping Jason's room all these years? We have 20 guest rooms, we hardly need the space! But she's dead set on removing it and making it a powder room or something and daddy just stands there stoically like it's no big deal! It is a big deal! It was Jason's!!"

"Alright, we have that established, what next?" Betty lightly pressed as her distant cousin spiralled out of control.

"Ma said the renovators are coming next week and that I better get used to it so I locked myself in his room and in my anger I started stabbing the bed with my security knife when I found this." Cheryl reached into her bag and pulled out a folded piece of paper. It looked fairly old, and held Jason's signature clearly on the bottom. "He said he was running away! What if the murder is just a cover up! I swear if nothing comes out of this, I'll accept that as fact and let it go, but I need to follow the clue. You'll help me, won't you, Betty dear? You investigate for a living."

After Betty agreed to look into it, Cheryl promptly left. As she had gotten what she came for, she didn't see the point in wasting time on trivial formalities. B and V then sat together on the couch, reading the letter for any hidden meaning.

Dear Cheryl,

I hope you find this. I had to hide it so father wouldn't be the one to discover it since I'm running away. I cannot stomach the family business and yet father wants me to join him. I'd honestly prefer to just spend the rest of my days swimming. If you see Polly, tell her I love her and I'll try my best to contact her when I know it's safe. Be careful Cheryl, I love you.

Signed, Jason Blossom

Meanwhile, in another part of town, there was a knock on the door of a run down two bedroom apartment. Officer Jones answered the door to a fellow police officer who looked ready to give him a fist bump. The newcomer pulled the resident into a bear hug when he did not comply.

"Hey Jug, is it cool if a crash here? Did Commisioner Weatherbee inform you?" He put his bag down on the ground. He looked around as a raven haired teen walked out of the kitchen, arms crossed.

"If you're staying here, I still have priority on my bedroom. Take the couch you ginger mooch!" Her foot stomped on the ground, intending to come off as serious but appearing to be more like a toddler throwing a mild tantrum.

"Calm down, Jellybean. Archie ain't that bad. And no, he hasn't-" Jughead Jones then looked over at his phone and noticed the red notification light, "-shit. I guess you're cleared, but I'm gonna have to review these messages so if you'll excuse me." He gestured to the living room and took off as he went through his voicemail.

Archie Andrews practically threw himself on the couch and stuck out his tongue at JB. As far as she was concerned, Archie had always brought out the immature boyish part of her big brother. She didn't hate him, per say, but she did find him to be highly annoying. This included right then as he put on the sports network. She didn't even like watching the Olympics every 2 years, let alone regularly scheduled sports and the talk shows about them. She went back in her room and slammed the door.

Jughead groaned from the privacy of his room.

"I put you on the case because you're an old pal of Mr Andrews. He'll be an asset to the investigation but he can be a bit of a loose canon. Keep an eye on him, and remember, he was chosen specifically for this assignment for his ties to the vigilante business. We need that key insight if we're tracking the Black Hood. She keeps bumbling up our legal work. The St Clair's got off because of her interference in the investigation."

"I'll do what I can but my little sister is not going to like this." Forsythia "Jellybean" Jones grew up to her brother reading Spider-Man comics with her and had an affinity for superheroes. The fact that Archie Andrews gave up his hero status so easily may have been a contributing factor to her disdain of him.

"If that's going to be a problem, maybe you should return her to your mother. The two of you have split custody of her after all, right?" It was a heavy handed suggestion but also a thinly veiled threat. When Jug was in middle school, his mother took off with Jellybean, leaving him alone with his alcoholic father. He'd sleep at work or try to have sleepovers at Archie's when he was between girlfriends because it was better than dealing with his dad. That turned out to be a good decision as his father was convicted for the murder of Jason Blossom at around that time.

He spent a few months in foster care before he filed for emancipation and moved first to Toledo, and then to New York to become a police officer along with Archie. He did it to spite his father, and the commissioner had used his authority to sway the custody battle in Jughead's favour for his sister. He just wanted some rights to see her and now he had majority. His situation was more secure, his job was steady, he had an education whereas his mother had just recently obtained her GED. Considering their dad was a gang leader as well as being in jail, it was also in her best interest to be around a police officer.

"It'll be no problem, I assure you." He hung up and returned to the living room, offering to buy pizza. Half a large Hawaiian for JB, half pepperoni for Archie, and a full Deluxe for himself. Before he knew it, Archie was already gossiping about their supposed-to-be covert operation to his kid sister. While she generally was annoyed by the ginger, she leaned in to catch every word, eyes wide with excitement. He sighed. There was no way this was going to go over well.


	3. Investigate Me

Professionally, she went by Elizabeth Cooper, and she had a meticulously crafted image that she had curated after years of work and extreme pressure from her mother. She pulled her hair up into a ponytail, without even so much as a fly away. She used to take half an hour to get such a ponytail but her skills improved and her hair became used to being that way. She felt it was more professional to wear her hair in a ponytail. She ruffled out the folds on her blouse and tucked it into her pencil skirt.

Because of her chosen line of work, she didn't usually spend a lot of time in the office but today was assignment day. She was eager to see what story she would be chasing for the next little while but she felt a pit in her stomach. Would it interfere with her other investigation? She just hoped it wouldn't eat up too much of her free time, after all Jason was both technically her cousin and the father to her niece and nephew.

Veronica insisted on dropping her off in the towncar on her way to a design meeting and she couldn't help but fidget with the seams of her stockings. V put a hand on her shoulder. On the outside Betty could easily be described as "perfect" but she always felt like a mess on the inside. It was almost like a coping mechanism, keeping it together on the outside. In high school she often dug her perfectly manicured nails into her palms as a sort of external outlet for these internal feelings. This soothing motion reminded her of her therapy sessions and the "toolbox" her counsellor had suggested. She took a deep breath and let it go.

As she stepped out of the car, she turned to face her seated friend. "Thanks V, for everything." Veronica smiled and waved goodbye as the car took off. Before Betty was the huge news building. One more deep breathe and she walked in and took the elevator up to her floor. She went to make herself a herbal tea in the break room before going to her cubical and the expected gossip at the water cooler was in full swing.

"Hey Bob, you owe me $10. I told you that Rebel Media story was real." Bob begrudgingly handed James the most crinkled 10 he had on him.

"Well it's ridiculous! Who ever heard of a vigilante hero in New York?!"

"Actually pretty much all Marvel superheroes are from New York," a newcomer interjected.

"Shut up Carl, nobody asked you. Anyways this is the real world, not Spider-Man or whatever."

"So whose getting that story, anyways? Do we know yet?" James piped back up. "I'd take it in a heart beat."

"Nobody. The police have placed a gag order. Something about preventing panic but I personally think they just don't want to be embarrassed by the fact that a civilian is out there doing their job for them. The Black Hood, whoever they are, is doing God's work." He took a sip of his coffee.

Betty was relieved that nobody was going to investigate her, despite how much anxiety the conversation gave her. She internally groaned at the return of Rebel Media's ridiculous nickname of "The Black Hood" just because she wore a Hood. It wasn't like it was a balaclava or something! As they started to switch topics, she made her way past to her office and booted up her laptop to polish off her last article while she awaited the call to head office.

If the police were shielding her from the media, as nice as it sounded, it couldn't actually be a good thing. Luckily, she'd need to leave town to investigate Jason and the NYPD wouldn't follow her all the way to Greendale... Would they? Jason would definitely not be in Riverdale but she knew she'd probably have to go there as well for clues. At least she could be under the guise of visiting family. Maybe Veronica would come too, as support.

Finally she was summoned and Madam McCoy was rubbing a headache out of her temples. Betty sent her printed copy of her finished article on the desk and waited in eerie silence for her boss to tell her what to do next. This would make or break her ability to work on her side project. As the extended silence did not appear to end, Elizabeth cleared her throat and spoke.

"Sierra, I was wondering if I could have some time off soon. I haven't visited with my family in a while and I'm starting to miss them." McCoy let out a sigh.

"I'd love to Elizabeth. You're a model employee and one of our best and brightest, but right now just isn't a good time. I'm sure you've heard about the vigilante?" Betty visibly gulped.

"I thought the guys said we weren't going to cover that?" She tried really hard to keep the anxiety out of her voice, but luckily McCoy was too wrapped up in herself to even notice.

"It's absurd! What about freedom of the press! But that's why I need you, Miss Cooper. I want you to investigate _why._ If we can't release the story directly we'll have to try something else. You're friends with the Sheriff in your home town? What if I gave you a day there to acquire a police scanner from him? Fair compromise?"

Betty nodded, not exactly happy with the terms of the agreement but it was better this assignment was hers. Plus, she could look in to whose looking into her. As far as she was concerned, she was a step ahead in the game.

"Do we know who is on this particular case?" It would make her job infinitely easier if she knew who to look out for.

"Well I don't know for sure but the rumour is they put Archie Andrews on the case. Something about him attempting vigilante justice in high school. Didn't you two attend the same campus or something? Maybe that will come in handy." With that she waved her employee off with the flick of her wrists and Betty dejectedly walked out the door.

Once back in her office space she was packing up and getting ready to go home, preferring to write from her mahogany desk Veronica had gifted her many Christmases ago without all the noise and distractions but she decided to open up visageview, the social network du jour, and typed in Arc. She hadn't even finished his name because he came up automatically. They weren't close by any means but he was the kind of guy who liked having a thousand friends on social media and she figured it wasn't a big deal since he was her neighbor. His picture was a few years old, of him and his dog Vegas who age was starting to catch up on. Betty wouldn't be surprised if the family dog had passed since this picture was taken. He had barked at passers by practically her whole childhood. She smiled and closed her laptop on the page before slipping it into her sleek black messenger bag. She also made a mental note to book an appointment with her therapist as everything was starting to bog her down, even though she couldn't share all the details. Ms Burble respected that.

On the ride home she mentally tallied how this would go. Now that she had to go home, she'd see if she could stay with Cheryl to get more clues under the guise of being invited. Her mom would flip, but she'd save that for another time. She would obviously visit Keller to get the radio and maybe hit up Pop's with Kevin. (The closest they had to Pop's in NY was a place called Rocko's. Burgers weren't nearly as good but the milkshakes were innovative and to die for.) Check with Mr Andrews to get Archie's address and schedule a lunch date for when she got back to the city. She could do that, right? The fact that she was single certainly didn't hurt anything.


	4. To Riverdale

Archie was of very little help. As it turns out, small town vigilante heroes are very different from big city heroes, especially when "The Red Circle" was a project born from paranoia after Archie's father was involved in a rather suspicious accident. Jughead sat at his oak desk and pulled at the ends of his messy black hair.

Jellybean sauntered over, bag of chips in hand, not afraid to talk while chewing them, salt and vinegar flavoured. "That's what you get when you try to take down the coolest part of this town."

"She's left us some criminals before, as some sort of gift or something I don't know, but her interference botched the whole court process. Even if I agreed with her work, she does more damage since we have to let all these guys walk. This isn't Gotham, we don't have a Harvey Dent to magically get them all put away. In the real world there is beaurocracy and civil rights and innocent until proven guilty. Whoever she is, she's getting in the way of all that and it's a total mess for paperwork, too."

JB huffed, inadvertently crushing some of the chips in his hand. "Innocent until proven guilty is only good if the bad guys can actually be proven guilty. Sometimes you have to stand up to the bad guys. And if she's not a cop then how is she bound to the same laws as you are? It seems like it should be an easy win." She put the crushes chips back in the bag and threw a looped chip into her mouth, satisfied with her logic.

"No offence Jells but you're still in high school. That's just not how the world works. Think back to that big super hero movie. What was it again, Civil War? People like The Black Hood would not agree to follow the Sokovia Accords, and that's a problem. They cannot be controlled. If I screw up, it's on me. If she screws up? Well I have to chase her down to force her to be liable." He took a sip of his coffee and left the room, tired of the endless debate.

Meanwhile, the woman he was chasing was packing up her suitcase for a whirlwind trip. Veronica was going to escort her so she could continue to antagonize her father, and Betty was staying with Cheryl as planned. She had already received one angry phone call from her mother about it but she just rolled her eyes. The two of them would go for lunch before she left, and that was a promise.

It was always a shock, leaving the city for the countryside. You went from concrete jungle to valleys and forests, a very stark contrast. This scenerie had more in common with Riverdale but it always pulled into a shock as they arrived back in the town of alleged pep. It felt eerie and wrong, like she no longer belonged there. Perhaps that was a testimate to just how much she assimilated into the Big Apple. Right past the sign was the winding road to Thornhill where the living Blossoms lived. Bile rose in her throat and her friend put her hand on hers. "You can still back out if you want." Betty shook her head. Veronica was too creeped out to even get out of the car so Smithers popped the trunk and passed Betty her suitcase.

It took a minute before the gates opened, she imagined due some family squabbling as Clifford never took a liking to her. She immediately started to walk up the path to the foreboding mansion and the tires screeched like a bat out of hell as her friend got as far away from this gothic horror story as possible.

Cheryl rushed her inside. Her cousin's room was right next to Jason's and she got Polly's old room which was just across the hall. Back before all the drama, one might have suspected it to be her room: two stepford daughters of baby pink and soft pastels, but Betty had grown into a woman and shed her doll-like skin. Once she was finished unpacking her electronics, Cheryl ushered her into the room that brought Betty to town.

There was a sheet draped loosely over the bed but it was obviously in a state of disaster underneath. Piles of foam were not well hidden by the satin red. Cheryl slowly took it off, almost living in the suspense. It was like the two were expecting to see his body there or something, with how frozen they were in place. Cheryl closed her eyes as she slowly pushed her arm into the largest hole in the bed, as if it were disgusting.

"Right here is where I found it." Her voice was strained and pitchy. Betty slowly flipped the mattress over to see if he had hidden his message between it and the box spring. He didn't. That was odd. The two sighed around until a shrill bell broke them out of their fever. It was dinner time.

The Blossoms were traditional and believed in the family dinner. You did not watch TV or play on your phone, you were present with your family. In a regular household, that might be a good thing, but the silence was strained. The loudest noise was the sound of the expensive sterling silverware. Cheryl's father aggressively cut into and chewed on his steak while Penelope sliced with grace, but focused most of her attention on Cheryl. It seemed that men in the Blossom/Cooper family were drawn to highly critical women, though Penelope seemed more harsh than pushy compared to her former classmate Alice.

"Cheryl you're a lady, cut your meat smaller." It wasn't even that Cheryl was doing something wrong, her mother was just looking for anything she could use to criticize. The spitfire that was Cheryl Blossom nodded and cut the pieces even smaller. She could go toe to toe with her mother, but not with her father around and not in front of company.

After dinner, Betty was excused to her room where she quickly pulled out her laptop. She opened up incognetotes which was an app that encrypted whatever she wrote so that nobody but herself could access it. She sprawled down every detail she could from exploring the room: how it was in the mattress, how it alligned up with the top third of the bed, and how much it freaked out Cheryl.

It was an exhausting day and no matter how much this haunted house creeped her out, Cooper managed to fall into a deep sleep relatively quickly. She woke up to her phone going off. It was Kevin calling to make sure they were still on in an hour at the Sheriff's office before catching lunch. She didn't often sleep this late and quickly threw on her outfit. It was more pink than she usually wore but you catch more flies with honey and she figured her friend's father would be more cooperative if she looked like her sweet old innocent self.

He shot her a smile as he looked over some old paperwork when she came in. "Kev is just in my office Betty."

"Oh actually I also needed to see you. You see, I'm writing an article on the police and my boss wants me to get a police radio so I can keep up with what's going on." He looked at her for what felt like forever and then let out a sigh.

"Betty I don't normally do this but you've been good to Kevin, stepped up for him when the other kids were making fun of him long before he ever came out of the closet, so this is a thank you. But Betty, you have to promise me one thing: don't follow the calls. Don't get yourself put in danger for the sake of a news article. You're worth more than any sensationalist story, Bettt. Just promise me, okay? That it's just for context."

"Don't worry about me, Mr Keller, it's for research purposes only." And that was the truth, though a little bent. She never tried to upstage the police. When they were coming she was usually confident that they could handle things, but they weren't always there when things went down so she needed to be.

"I'll go get it and bring it to the office in a minute. Go see my boy, he's been giddy all day." He shoo'd her off similarly to how her boss did just a few days ago as he took off down the corridor. She smiled as she opened the office door. Her childhood best friend immediately stood up, dropping the trashy gossip magazine he had previously been ogling.

"Hey Kev, long time no see." Her voice was soft like cashmere and he quickly swept her up into a bear hug.

"God Betty you can't leave me alone with these people again. They don't know anything about what's important in life or the whose who of the world outside!" Betty smiled at his antics. He was doing just fine without her but he wouldn't be her Kevin if he didn't try to make her feel special.

He was embarrassed to drive her to Pop's in his dad's old woody wagon since his was in the shop, but they made due, or he did as he tried to be sneaky and even wore a pair of sunglasses despite it not being all that bright out.

Despite how Kevin was clearly an adult, Betty felt like she had stepped back in time. The Chocklit Shoppe was exactly how she remembered it and Pop himself hadn't changed a bit. He smiled and asked if they wanted the usual, which was met with a yell of "YES!!" He snickered as he made his way back to the kitchen.

That was all Betty had planned for the day but tomorrow she'd head to Greendale before coming back to have lunch with her mom and then leaving back to NY with Veronica. She had to have a moment to relax with a milkshake and throw fries as her friend that she had gone way too long without seeing.


	5. And Back Again

When the remaining fries had become much too cold to eat, hours after they first sat down, the friends had sighed. They knew their day had to come to an end eventually as they resigned themselves to the car. Just like everyone else, the devil himself could not force Kevin to drive past the gate's to Thornhill.

During the evening, Betty had found Cheryl sleepwalking to Jay's room in a red hood and a 3 tier candleholder. This house was definitely haunted and they had the graveyard to the side of the house to prove it. It spooked Betty, who had a hard time getting back to sleep and was almost too tired to call a Leaft to investigate in Greendale. She had to, though, before she met up with her mother. There was no way she'd be productive after a thorough Cooper(tm) lecture. She made sure her driver made a quick stop at Pop's on the way out of town for a double espresso to go.

There's something different about being a passenger instead of a driver. Ever since they moved Betty mostly took the bus or the town car but back in Riverdale she used to drive. It was her first taste of freedom in a suffocating household and she had often left town just because she could, out of a sense of escape. She had driven down this very path many times before but she has generally had her eyes on the road. Even when she wasn't driving, they'd usually be coming out this way for a party or something and she'd be too distracted to pay attention. So it was this particular ride when she noticed a Blossom Maple Syrup sign that appeared to be busted. She scared the crap out of her driver when she screamed for him to stop. The moment his tired screeched to a halt, she threw herself out the door, sprinting towards the sign. The driver stood there in confusion.

After a few minutes, the blonde returned. "I'm sorry, I'm going to explore here a little bit and call a new driver when I'm done." She handed him her American Excess card and made sure he was paid before she returned to her investigation.

"Poll, if you find this, the car is parked about a mile west from here. Come pick me up, I'll be at the spot where we first met." It was scratched in the back of the sign with a pocket knife or something. She snapped a picture and then covered up the spot with some nearby branches then opened her phone.

If the compass app was real, it would have dust all over it for the amount of times she needed to use it, but luckily it worked even with the flicker of a signal that existed between towns. About 15 minutes later, she found the spot.

But there was no car, just old tire marks. Who had taken the car? And how? Out here in the middle of nowhere... She snapped a few pics and dialed for another driver. They would arrive at the sign shortly after she made her way back there.

Greendale was a lot less obvious and after hours of looking for something, anything, she crashed her head on the small table at a bistro nook in town. She already ordered a sandwich and was just waiting for the she devil known as her mother to arrive. That happened sooner rather than later.

"Sit up Betty, is that any way for a lady to behave?" The older woman wrinkled her nose as she dantily plopped down on the other side of the table. Soon after Betty's sandwich was placed on the table, Alice sneered. "Isn't that a bit much protein, Betty? Please tell me you told them to hold on the mayonnaise."

Betty smiled sweetly as her mother but internally she was rolling her eyes and sticking out her tongue. "Just light mayo and I need the protein. I went for a job earlier." Alice gave her a curt nod followed by awkward silence until her food joined the table as well. The ride home after was awkward. Mrs Cooper would open her mouth to say something and then close it again. The radio was on but the sound was low so it did nothing to ease the tension. Alice didn't even go up the turn to the gate when she dropped her daughter off.

"It's absolutely absurd that you're staying at this ghastly place. I would have driven you straight home if you didn't already have all your thing tucked away in some creepy old spare bedroom."

Betty sighed. "Thanks for the ride mom. Maybe I'll stay with you next time I come to town."

Alice's lips tightened into a straight line. "Yes, when will that be again?" Betty had already started walking up the long and winding roaring, ignoring her mother. If she said anything else, Betty certainly didn't hear it and Alice would only ever cross that line if she absolutely had to.

Within minutes of Betty thumping down on her bed, her fiery cousin had burst through the door, clicking it locked behind her. Betty instantly got a headache.

"What's the scoop, Betty dearest?" She had a Cheshire grin and it reminded the blonde of the same wicked look Cheryl would wear when hearing intriguing gossip back in grade school. But this wasn't grade school, this was the real world, and a situation considerably more grave than who hooked up with who at a weekend party. Betty found the pictures on her phone and passed it to her cousin, too tired to go into it.

"JJ never told me about any of this." It came out like a whisper, but Betty still heard it.

"If it makes you feel any better, Polly never mentioned anything either. The next pictures are from where this car was supposed to be. There are old tire prints so it was there for quite some time before someone took off with it. As for who, I do not know. If your hunch is right and Jason is still alive, maybe he took it."

Cheryl nodded then quickly sent a copy of the pictures to her own phone. "Just be careful with those, Cher. We don't know why there was so much secrecy around the car, so keep all of this to yourself. Even if Jason is alive, this could very well leave him in danger."

Veronica was waiting at the gates the following morning with two espressos from Pop's. "For the drive" she murmured, as if either of them were actually driving and needed the caffeine to stay awake.

Betty updated her benefactor with the merger clues she had collected and Veronica showed her sketches. She wanted to update the Dark Betty look. One of her sketches looked a little too much like Batman. "I'm more of a Watchmen than a Batman kind of girl," Betty teased. It was true, though. Outlawed superheroes were more accurate that detectives dressed in bright colours and then later on dark in an attempt at being edgy. No offence to DC, of course. They settled on a breathable black full bodysuit with a billowing black cape for "the drama" and padding along the joints for additional support. A light would be added right above her right ear and a night vision lense folded behind her left. She was also getting a utility belt with items yet to be determined but for sure a dagger and pepper spray.

When they arrived back at the house, there was a message left on the answering machine.

"Hey Betty, Ronnie, my dad said you stopped by for a visit and that you lived in New York so I thought I'd hit you gals up and see if you wanted to have diner or something some time?"

Betty's heart beat threw her chest. Sure, she went and saw Fred Andrews, but she never gave him her phone number. She was the one who was going to make the call. Things were not going as planned and she was starting to panic. How did he get her number?


	6. Set the Date

"Hey Archie, it's me, Veronica. Betty was just saying we should catch up with old classmates and we heard you were here in New York! Fancy that you'd call us before we hard the chance to catch up."

"Yeah hey Ronnie, is Betty around?" Veronica raised an eyebrow, not used to getting shut down like that.

"Yeah she's here but she's currently unavailable, which is why I was the one who called," Miss Lodge practically huffed out. Without skipping a beat, she continued her reply with "Can I take a message?" It was meant to come off harsh. She was Veronica Lodge. Lodges don't take messages, they aren't service people, and yet he didn't even seem to notice her tone, oblvious Andrews through and through.

"Yeah that'd be great! I was wondering if she wanted to go out for dinner some time. Get her to call me so we can see what day works for her, I'm generally open!" Veronica rolled her eyes and hung up the phone without even so much as saying goodbye.

If Betty was a cartoon, she would have been jittery and biting her nails like no tomorrow. Instead, she was slightly shaking, her pupils were dialated, and her nails were pressing into the nearly healed crescent marks in her palms. Even with all this going on, she offered Veronica a small smile.

"Don't worry about Archie, he wouldn't know a good thing if it were right under his nose." Even when she was stressed out, she was still trying to comfort her friend.

"B, I know what you're trying to do and I appreciate it, but really I don't care. If I were to be with Andrews, it probably would have been in high school when he was a head jock and it actually meant something. Or when he was a musician playing clubs he wasn't even supposed to be allowed into back then. One just does not simply snuff a Lodge. But what about you. I see your clenched hands, Betty. When's your next therapy session?" Veronica made sure to look Betty straight in the eye as she asked, wanting an honest answer and not just what she wanted to hear.

"I was doing so well, and I already scheduled one for next week because of the story they have me on. I didn't open the wounds, Ron, you don't want to worry about me. And I'm sorry for dragging you into that. My problem, my darkness..." Betty was no longer looking at her friend, but past her in a sort of daze. V instantly pulled her closest friend into an embrace.

"Don't you ever apologize for that. You're the sister I never had but always wanted. You're my best friend, Betty. Your problems are my problems, always."

Betty hugged her sister-by-choice a little tighter and nodded. "I'll call Archie later. And I'll make sure he knows Veronica Lodge does not do _rude._ "

On the other side of town was Archie, confident with his chances as he scarfed down a few burgers from Rocko's before Jug could get at them.

"You know, it's not smart to talk to a Lodge like that. They're the kind of people that hire gang members to do their dirty work." He took a deep sip of what was probably his fifth, maybe sixth, cup of black coffee. At this point, caffeine didn't even do anything anymore, it was just a beverage. His tolerance was too high.

"How do you know that? You didn't even go to school with her like I did."

"If you recall, Arch, for a short while I did. But the reason I knew is because my dad was the kind of gangbanging asshole he hired out." He now lifted a bottle of cola to his lips, already in a bad mood.

"Oh yeah, well I just didn't think of that-"

"Do you ever?" Jughead interrupted.

"What?"

"Think."

"Shut up, I do too think! In fact, I called because Betty is an investi-ma-something journalist and one of the few girls from home that I'm still probably in good graces with. I'm sure she'll be willing to help."

Jughead scrutinized his burger, avoiding looking his friend in the eye. "You can ask but if she lives here, she probably has a high profile job and considering she works for the paper she's probably pissed at the embargo. But be my guest." He chomped down, disappointed that he didn't order a double.

"Oh come on, she was my neighbor and literally the girl next door."

"I bet she'd kick your ass for pinning her to a stereotype." He set the bottle down, empty. Archie raised an eye brow.

"How would you know?"

"Aside from her being your neighbor, all our parents went to high school together. I don't trust my dad as far as I can throw him but I'm pretty sure it's safe to take his word for it when he says Cooper women are crazy feisty and not to turn your back to one. Even from Southside we all heard what happened with Polly. I guess my dad is a surprisingly honest murderer."

"If the love of your life died, you'd probably freak out like Polly did, too."

"Maybe, but as I've never had and never intend to have a 'love of my life' I guess I'll never know," he itched his fingers for another bottle. He refused to drink- he was afraid of becoming his father- but he was haunted by the compulsion. As much as he hated it, addiction was something he understood. The pull towards the bottle to drown out all the things that are wrong in life is strong. It was a fact that made him bitter and he fought it tooth and nail.

He turned on Netflix and upped the volume to indicate that this conversation was over.

A few hours later he was jostled from his near sleep on his BarcaLounger by an annoyingly loud pop song. It had to have been, to compete with the television. Archie jumped up.

"That's me!" As if that wasn't obvious. Jughead rolled his eyes and begrudgingly turned down the volume, refusing to pause tv they were barely watching for the sake of a crummy phone conversation.

Back on that other side of town was Betty perching on the edge of the apartment bathroom, a Hey Y'all in one hand and her phone in the other. She was just tipsy enough to find the courage to make the call. Veronica was still agitated from earlier so she chose to hole herself in the bathroom. Perhaps her bedroom would have been better but somehow that felt too intimate.

"Hey Arch," a nickname she had given him back when they were just children talking through a hole in the fence. "Just so you know, you've officially burned your name into Ronnie's black list."

"Why does everybody keep saying that?"

"Have you met Veronica Lodge, 'Archiekins'? Who else said it?"

"Jughead. We're rooming-"

"More like he's mooching!" came a voice in the background.

"Shut up, nobody was talking to you, weirdo."

"Isn't that the boy with the prince hat?"

"One and the same, yeah. Anyways, when should we meet up?

"Oh right! I was wondering if I could interview you for the paper? That's why I contacted your dad. My boss noticed we were from the same town and assigned me the task. Anyways I'm generally free whenever."

"Alright, do you know where Rocko's is?"

"It's on Haney street, right?"

"Perfect. I'll see you there tomorrow at 7pm."


End file.
